The invention relates to the technical field of dispensing machines for paper wipes of the tissue paper type for hand wipe and toilet paper applications and wiping and cleaning in general.
The Applicant has already developed numerous machines of this type for the above-mentioned applications. These machines are of the type comprising a housing (1) with a protective cover (2), said housing being designed to internally accommodate a drum (3) devised in order to position and operate a cutting device (4). A pressure component pushes against the drum whilst reel (B) of wound material is mounted on a reel holder making it possible to dispense the strip of material to the drum with a view to cutting it after it has been manually pulled by the user through the outlet of the housing. Alternatively, the reel may rest directly against the drum.
A machine of this type is described in French Patent 2332215 and also in French Patent 2713075, including the pressure roller.
Patent FR2771620 in the name of the Applicant discloses a paper-wipe strip dispensing machine which comprises a reel of strip of paper, a pressure roller which comes into contact with the strip on the reel and a drum with a blade which cuts the strip. The pressure roller is articulated and pivoted by two swivelling levers so that it is in permanent contact and pushed against reel, thereby defining a clearance of the order of 25 to 50 cm between the tensioning areas defined by reel/pressure roller contact on the one hand and drum/cutting blade ejection on the other hand.
One of the problems which have been encountered is that of tensioning the material between the areas defined by the point where the pressure roller touches the drum and the upper part of the reel of material.
The ejection of cutting blade (4a) close to the support point of the pressure roller and the drum (roughly 2 to 4 centimeters) encourages the formation of folds in the strip of material due to lack of tension between above-mentioned support and penetration of the blade into the material, so that the material is not always clean cut. This drawback is currently encountered in both cases, i.e. when the dispensing machine comprises a reel of material pressing directly against the drum or when the dispensing machine comprises a suspended reel of material which does not touch the drum, this contact being ensured by the pressure roller pushing against the drum which accommodates the cutting device.
Another drawback of dispensing machines of prior art as described must also be emphasised. Dispensing the strip of material is braked due to the pressure roller pushing directly against the drum, especially when the blade moves into the hollow blade ejection receptacle and also in the case of a deformed drum which allows format adjustment.
The object sought after according to the invention was to devise a new dispensing machine for wipe material which overcomes these drawbacks.
The solution found involves completely rethinking the dispensing machine in order to solve the problems stated above.
According to a first aspect, the dispensing machine for wipe material is of the type comprising a housing, a cover, a drum, a cutting blade built into the drum, means of starting and returning the drum including a cam and a start and return spring both located on one side of the drum, the lateral end shields of the housing being devised to support the reel of material, a pressure roller being capable of pushing against the strip of material at a specific point in addition to a second pressure area towards the area where the strip of material is cut at the level of the drum, the pressure roller being mounted so that it is articulated and pivoted by two swivelling levers so that it comes into permanent contact and presses against the reel of material, thereby defining a distance between the tensioning areas defined by reel/pressure-roller contact on the one hand and drum/cutting blade ejection on the other hand of the order of 25 to 50 cm, characterised in that the two levers (9-10) are not joined together and pivot independently so that the pressure roller (8) can swivel with variations of each of said levers making it possible to match the profile of the reel of material.
These aspects and others will become apparent from the following description.